Wakestone Hall chapter sampler

vests and stockings, but it was a poor hiding place, and if Miss McCragg found it, she would confiscate it. Keepsakes and Ornaments are Vulgar and Sentimental and Strictly Forbidden. The matron was coming closer, moving briskly through the dormitory, searching every bed and dressing table. She poked a mattress and a pillow, then upended a drawer, spilling hair ribbons and stockings onto the floor. She stirred them around with the end of her stick, snapped, ‘Tidy that up,’ and moved on to the next bed. As soon as Miss McCragg’s back was turned, Stella knelt down, pulled open her bottom drawer and snatched out the musical box. She clutched it to her chest. ‘Where can I hide this?’ she asked in a desperate whisper. ‘Up the leg of your drawers,’ suggested Agapanthus. ‘It’s too big.’ ‘Under your pillow?’ At that moment, Miss McCragg flung a pillow across the room. Stella gasped. Ottilie whispered, ‘P-put it in your washbag. I know somewhere. I’ll show you.’ Miss McCragg had reached Agapanthus’s bed and was prodding the mattress in a suspicious manner.

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